The secret family tree
by Thana Black
Summary: In an alternate universe where Daphne and Astoria Greengrass didn't start their education in Hogwarts, in 1995 they find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that will change theirs and Harry Potter's lives forever.


I wrote this story when I was about thirteen, and decided to post it here just to see how people would receive it. Also, it was written in Portuguese and I just threw it in Google translate and read the result superficially, so there must be some mistakes. Anyways, if anyone likes it, I'll rewrite it and post it here.

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Chapter one

They were arguing. Again. They argued often and for the most part for silly reasons. The reason this time was the past they shared. The youngest, Astoria, a short, twelve-year-old girl with black hair and greenish-brown eyes, often confused with black, wanted to know what had happened to her biological parents by seeing her old memories. The eldest, Daphne, a fourteen-year-old girl, with gorgeous red hair and very green eyes, was against it. She felt they should leave the past behind and argued that they now had another family and they had to be werehappy with it. No matter how bad it was.

"You have to settle for it, we can't live in the past forever!" Daphne said, they were in the living room of her house and Astoria was looking at her older sister with fists clenched in anger. _What is her problem? Doesn't she understand that this is important to me?!_

"Only because you're an idiot and don't want to find out where we came from does not mean I have to do the same thing, sis!" Astoria retaliated and Daphne took a step back. After some time of their adoption and her going to Durmstrang the Greengrass's youngest daughter had come to behave differently. She was considerably more bitter and had built an almost indestructible wall around her heart. Daphne did not know what had happened to generate this, but she longed to find out.

"Astoria! Do not call me an idiot, I'm your older sister!" Daphne said, berating her.

"Oh, really? Why didn't you tell me before, Daph? I swear I hadn't noticed." Astoria fought back, indifferent, and started to walk to her room. "I'll look at my memories anyway, but then it's no use asking me what I saw, Daphne."

The older girl looked at her without action. She did not think that was right, but surely she wouldn't let her younger sister do it alone. Meddling with memories of such a young age could be dangerous, and Astoria was little more than a newborn at the time. Daphne sighed. Where was the little girl who, when younger, she wanted so much to protect? _Where is my little sister?_

"All right." The redhead spoke and her sister turned, raising an eyebrow. "I'll do it"

"Then let's go." She snorted and continued to walk into her room. Daphne followed her reluctantly, not feeling comfortable in this situation. And if their past were disappointing, a bad thing? Even worse, and if they discovered something that could put them both in a bad situation? They walked down a few aisles until they reached their goal. Astoria's room was a normal size and had black walls. The bed was double and totally black with two white pillows behind, two small purple pillows on the front and a black cushion in the middle. The bed also had a black velvet cover folded at the end. But what attracted most attention were not the walls, the bed, or the furniture, which were all black, but the giant chandelier on the ceiling, with it's fine ornery and intricate patterns. Daphne had to admit, she did not like going to her little sister's room, all that obscurity frightened her.

Astoria did not care if her sister was frightened by the decor of her room, on the contrary, she laughed and went to look for something in her wardrobe, which was behind a very large curtain on the wall. The older one was a little surprised, her little sister rarely laughed, especially when there was someone around. Daphne could not help finding it strange when she did it for no apparent reason. Astoria seemed to find what she was looking for and set it on a small table. It was a very large bowl. Actually, it was not a bowl, Daphne knew what it was. A pensieve. _I never thought she'd have one._

"Come here, you'll have to get your own memories. I was too young at the time." Astoria said as she sat on the edge of the bed. The older girl walked over and sat down beside her, the little table with the Pensieve in front of them.

"But how? We can't do magic outside school, remember? "Daphne said confused. Although underage Magic actually went undetected in areas of great magical presence, their parents had made sure to ward the house against any attempts of their daughters of casting any spell. Mostly because of Astoria.

Said girl handed her one of her bracelets, and she stared at the object in question. How could that help? She looked at the smaller one, showing her feelings, and the youngest rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Put it on, you'll be able to practice magic if you're with it." Even after she'd spoken Daphne remained apprehensive, and if it did not work? What if it was one of her sister's inventions that was doomed to go wrong? Although her little sister had never made a fated invention go awry...

"But-" The older Greengrass tried to argue.

"I made it, and I've tried it. I know it works, damn it! "Astoria closed her face and Daphne decided to put the bracelet on. Already with the bracelet around her arm, she took her wand from her pocket and took away the memories, pouring them straight into the Pensieve. She hadn't even realized it had really worked when her sister pushed her face in, along with hers. The world spun for a few moments until they appeared elsewhere...

 _"But what if he finds us? The children are very young and-" A young woman, a green-eyed redhead, was clearly desperate. And she seemed to be pouring all this desperation into the man in front of her, a dark haired man with extremely messy hair._

 _"Calm down, Lily. I promise you that if he finds us, nothing will happen to our children. I'm not going to leave, okay?" The brunet spoke to Lily, trying to calm her down, but did not succeed. She was pacing back and forth and brushing her own hair frantically._

" _Calm? Don't ask me to be calm! Our children are in danger because of a stupid prophecy, and they are just babies! I don't want them to grow up in the world by themselves, James!" She spoke distressed, practically begging for some sort of comfort. James wrapped her in his arms and she seemed to calm down a little, snuggling there._

 _"Hey, it's okay. We're going to be-" He could not finish his sentence, because there was an explosion outside the house. The barriers had fallen. They both widened their eyes. They were not believing what was happening, their friend had revealed them._

 _"He found us..." Lily said in a desperate whisper._

 _"No, he found me. Climb up there and get our children, then run to Hoghwarts and look for Dumbledore, they will protect you. "James spoke quickly, beckoning her to go. But she did not do it._

 _"And you?" She clung to his arms, as if asking him not to leave her alone._

 _"I'm going to delay him. Take care of our children. I love you." They exchanged one last kiss before he walked away and said, "Now go."_

 _"I love you too," Lily whispered a little stunned before starting to run up the stairs._ There has to be time ... _, she thought to herself as she opened the bedroom door quickly. The redhead took two little girls, a redhead and a brunette, in their respective cribs, and put them together with another baby, this one also dark but with green eyes. She touched them and tried to apparate, but nothing happened. Something was blocking her. When she was about to try again, the door was broken pieces, which flew into the room. Lily quickly stood in front of her children, trying to protect them._

 _"Get out of the way, Girl, you do not have to die. I decided I could spare you, as a gesture of good will. You should be grateful. Now move aside" The figure, posted at the door and dressed all in black, spoke._

" _Never! I will not let you hurt them, you monster! "The redheaded woman screamed, opening her arms._

 _"Well, I was generous and I gave you a choice, but you did not want to accept it, then..." He pointed his wand at her and quickly said two words "Avada Kedavra!"_

 _A beam of green light lit the room and the woman fell dead on the floor with a thud. The man dressed all in black, who had killed her, wrinkled his face in a smile-like manner and let out a cruel laugh._

 _"Now it's your turn, miserable creatures," he said, looking at the children in disgust. The babies simply stared at him with curious eyes, oblivious to what was happening. A few seconds later the cursed words were uttered again and there was a flash, followed by a very strong explosion, which caused some furniture to collapse. The two little girls were thrown out of their crib and fell among the rubble, while the man was reduced to a thing with almost no life and dragged out of there._

 _Shortly afterwards a man entered the house and took the baby on the crib, he seemed to look for something, probably the girls who were missing, but, not finding them, he became sad and went out the door. Soon a woman came in, attracted by the cry of one of the babies. She searched for the clutter of things and found the two little girls. The redhead cried in high tones, while the smaller one only observed everything with her little eyes fixed on the woman. She, in turn, took them in her arms and left that broken place. Not looking back even once._

Astoria was the first to react and lift her head out of the pensive, pulling her sister out a little later. So that was the reason why at the orphanage no one knew who her parents were. She'd heard the former headmistress from the orphanage where they lived a part of their lives was the one that had found them. Mrs. Miller, she remembered. It was said that the woman had been very kind in her times of administration. Then, one day, without any warning, she had appeared with two small babies in her arms. Their names were discovered thanks to the clothes they wore, where they were inscribed. Julliene Lilian and Margareth Amy. They had all seemed strange from the first time they saw them, but the director had insisted that they were only different, special.

With the death of Mrs. Miller the orphanage was taken over by a brute woman who mistreated the children and frightened them all. Julliene and Margareth grew up until their respective six and four years in this sick environment, until they attracted the attention of a "special" family that lived nearby. This family was called called Greengrass, and Ophelia and Othon Greengrass were looking for heirs like them, but the orphanages in the wizarding world were very time consuming and required a lot of legislation, so they resorted to a Muggle.

Astoria and her sister fit perfectly into their parameters. Beautiful, smart and most important, witches. Did not take too long. They were adopted and their names changed, the oldest being known by Daphne Anne Greengrass, and the youngest by Astoria Elizabeth Greengrass. They stayed with this couple for less than a year and soon they were sent to different schools each, they did not see each other for a long time and became separated, also very different. They had some joys all along, but the misfortunes were many, which was particularly normal in their lives, after all, the family that adopted them was one of Death Eaters.

"It cannot be true, it can't be!" Daphne said, her eyes wide and her head in her hands. Astoria looked at the Pensieve, biting her lips, she was still trying to absorb it. It was true, that was more than obvious, but she wanted with all her might for it not to be. How she wished it were not. If Othon and Ophelia found out... She didn't even want to think about it.

"But it is." The younger one said hugging herself and shrugging her knees close to her body. _We're screwed_. Daphne sighed and regained her self-control.

"Okay, now all we can do is forget about it and act like it never happened. Our parents... I do not even like to think about what would happen if they found out." She spoke, running a hand nervously through her hair. The younger girl rolled her eyes, demonstrating that she already knew that.

"Let's do this, but if they find out, we'll run away." Astoria spoke bitterly. She'd wanted to run away for a long time, but she knew her sister would refuse to do such a thing, and she refused to leave her sister alone with Othon, Ophelia, and everyone else. Daphne would not be able to turn around without her, and, as much as she did not show it, she cared for the older one, even liked her... a little. As much as she'd ever admit it.

Daphne smiled, acknowledging in the other's eyes the Astoria of long ago, of when they still lived in the orphanage and needed more of each other than anything in the world. The younger girl allowed herself a small smile, too, and there, in the opaque light of the chandelier, the two exchanged a hug that they had not exchanged in a long time.

They were sisters, after all.


End file.
